2020 will forever be remembered as the year our country was attacked by an enemy in the form of a disease. Unlike America’s response to the attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941, we responded to the COVID-19 crisis with deep partisan politics.
A disease that was attacking and killing Americans became a political pawn. There are serious questions about how seriously the Trump Administration initially treated the urgent warnings of the oncoming pandemic. President Trump downplayed the importance of wearing masks and many of his supporters perceived not wearing a mask as visual support of the President.
Many Americans believed the rhetoric that the pandemic was created to impact the re-election of Trump and dismissed the rules of wearing masks and social distancing. There was a story spreading through social media that no more people died in 2020 than in previous years, but facts disputed that. Over 3 million Americans died this year and that is a 15% increase over deaths last year and the biggest jump in annual deaths since 1918, when a pandemic swept across America and tens of thousands of Americans were killed in WWI.
2020 was also a year when racial tension hit new heights and conversations about solutions were based on politics rather than a desire to seek answers.
It should not have been a surprise that in this year with so many unusual events that the Election of 2020 would be shrouded in controversy.
And for the New Orleans area and the northern Gulf Coast, the record number of storms was just another notch in the bedpost of 2020.
The emotional turmoil of racial tension, storms and the disputed election combined with the physical altering of our lives from the pandemic will taint the memories of 2020 for most Americans. But on personal levels, there were positive things that happened. The births, health news and for some, new career opportunities were also part of the memories of 2020.
With all that 2020 was - and with all that it was not - we have a choice of how we say goodbye to this year and how we welcome in 2021. Traditional New Year’s Eve gatherings and celebrations will mostly be absent, but the real meaning of a New Year’s beginning takes place in our hearts and minds.
For those who lost friends and loved ones or careers in 2020, the challenge to be positive about the arrival of a New Year will be great. But as it is with every New Year the possibility of a better year is still as powerful.
When 2021 arrives at 12:00 am on January 1 the world will not suddenly change. We will still be fighting the battles of 2020, but with the hope and expectation that the New Year will be better.
In the song, “Name” by The Goo Goo Dolls, the line “scars are souvenirs you never lose - the past is never far” reminds us that we can’t erase 2020, but we can embrace the challenges we faced and be proud of how we handled those challenges.
Welcome in 2021 with the hope that this will be a better year and a year when we start to recover from the wounds of 2020. Life can take many things from us - but one thing that life can never take from us is a positive attitude. And if you believe in the “law of attraction” then you can believe that a positive approach to 2021 could encourage the positive forces that will impact our lives in the New Year!
Happy New Year!
